The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1887-02-10

save the girl at the window she
| watches and waits with an intensity Of
feeling that is painful, wondering and
| alarmed at the sight. After a minute
. curly brown head comes to view
above the ridge of the seminary roof.
Susie stands breathless as a brown
hand moves along toward the fugitive
robin,' and then-the bird is gone!
| With a defiant, wicked little twitter,
master robin spreads his wings and
alights on the peak of a morrow gable
far out of the climbers reach.
"Oh, dearr
1t was a natural exclamation of girl
ish petulence and disappointment.
Dan Hurlock does not mean to give up
SO. He draws himself to the ridgepole,
and with startling suddenness rises to
his feet. A thrill shoots through his
breast as he overs thus above all the
buildings in the vicinity; a vast, airy
expanse about him, the world in minia-
ture below. That thrill of. conscious
danger sends the blood from the brown
cheek, and fills the frank brown eyes
with a scared look not plea&pt to
see.
"Go back, Dan, you can not get the
bird!'
But Hurlock needs not the warning
voice of Susie. He means to capture
his obstinate namesake if possible.
Sinking back the youth calls gently the
name of the robin. The bird carts into
the air, fiutters a moment over the
young mans head, then settles within
six feet of him on the slate below-just
beyond reach. Hurlock lies fat and
begins to slide down the steep descent.
At length he clings to the ridge with
one hand above, while with the other
he reaches down after the bird.
The provoking little redbreast is just
beyond his grasp. 1t, too, is clinging
for a foothold. Again Hurlock calls,
but Red Dan only tips his head with an.
expression of extreme wisdom, seems
to listen a moment, then hops just a
little farther away.
The young climber makes one more
supreme effort to seize the bird, and
then his hold on the ridge relaxes-he
is lost! A cry of horror falls from the
lips of Susie, who has watched every
movement of the daring youth. She
closes her eyes as the sound of a sliding
body CRATES IN her senses-the next
sound will be hat awful thud one hum
bred feet below! Amomept thus, then
a dead, awful silence that is more ter
ribie than the crash of ten thousand
cannon.
Susie ventures to look. Half way
down the steep roof of the seminary is
Dan HurIock, lying flat, clinging, yet
moving slowly, an inch a second to the
awful doom that awaits him below!
The horrors of that moment no pen
can describe. She can not see his face,
consequently is spared the CHASTITY hor-
ror depicted there. And then, with a
meek and humble .twitter, as if peni-
tent for a sin, Red Dan flies in at the
window and perches ON his mistress
| shoulder. But the bird is. nothing now.
With dilating eyes, heaving bosom and
almost pulseless heart, Susie watches
the man who is slowly yet surely slid
ing to an awful doom. Far put she leans,
as if by inspiration, as she sees aman's
face at the window opposite, she
screams loudly:
.Help! Help! Help!"
Each cry is louder than the proceed
ing one. The opposite window opens,
and of the teachers looks over at
the wild-eyed, white-faced girl, who
seems in such sore distress.
'.He is on the roof! Quick! The rope
is on the other side! Go up that way
and save hint" screams Susie in a
voice husky with the horror that con-
sumes her.
.tOn the roof The ropeP 1 do not
understand" says the man.
Susie realizes that it will o be too
late-that any movement to save Dan
Hurlock must be made at once. This
thought cools her blood like ice, and
she tells the trouble in swift, calm
words that can not be mistaken. The
mar leaves the window, and once more
the eyes of Susie are fixed on the cling
ing youth opposite. -
Courage, Dan. Cling! Cling! Help
is coming!"
The voice of the girl reaches his ear,
but he can say nothing; ever speech he
feels will loosen his cling to the, states.
His clothes are coarse and rough, his
feet are shoeless, and this fact alone
has thus far deferred his doom; but he
feels all support giving way, slowly
yet surely he is going to the verge OF
an awful abyss. 1t is a hundred feet
from the projecting caves to the court
below. Red Dan, the cause Of all the
mischief, is forgotten now. There is
no help, no hope. Such is the pale
youths thought, yet he hugs that ex-
panse of slate with the desperate en-.
ergy of despair. A vast, spotted ex-
panse stretches under his blurted Wis.
ion, as his face is pressed against the
cold slate. His hands are downward,
pressing against the steep with such
force as to almost burst the skin; and
yet, inch by inch he is moving down.
ward!
How oon he will reach the verge he
has no means of knowing, but even al
the present rate of progress it can be
but a matter of a few minutes only
At any moment. too, he may touch
upon a smooth surface (the states have
thus far-been rough) and find himself
precipitated suddenly into the abys.
below. Awful moment! Awful thought
To the bursting brain of Dan Hurlocl
it seem as though all the world i
dancing a mad jig about his perch OF
that broad expanse of roof.
"Cling, Dan, cling!"
:; The voice of Susie is waited to tn,
strained senses of the slipping victim
of his own rashness. There is nothin.
musical in her voice, but rather tn
wall of one in despair. Dan does cling
but his arms ache, his limbs are racked
tremulous and sore-the roar of som